Title

What conditions produce the best craters testing different planetary surfaces.

Problem Scenario

So when people know where a crater will land depending on the surface type they will know an approximation of how large the crater will be.

Broad Question

What conditions produce craters?

Specific Question

What conditions produce a crater that can hold its shape and make a deep crater?

Hypothesis

I think that the ordinary modeling clay will produce the best crater.

Graph of Hypothesis

Variable

Independent Variable:

Type of material.

Dependent Variable:

How deep the crater is, how long the crater is, diameter crater.

Variables That Need To Be Controlled:

Amount of material, number of tests on each condition, height of which the ball is dropped.

Vocabulary List That Needs Explanation

Craters: The result of a meteorite after the impact on the planetary surface.

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General Plan

Potential Problems And Solutions

Not being able to measure to feet accurately----Duct tape two rulers together with no space in between.

Safety Or Environmental Concerns

None

Experimental Design

Number Of Trials:

3

Number Of Subjects In Each trial:

1

When data will be collected:

March 2012

Number of Observations:

5

Where will data be collected?

House

Resources and Budget Table

Purchased material	Air dry clay	Rice	Flour	Poster Board
Price	$3.00	$2.00	$1.50	$5.00

Data Table

Depth	Trial 1	Trial 2	Trial 3
Air Dry Clay
Rice
Flour

Width	Trial 1	Trial 2	Trial 3
Air Dry Clay
Rice
Flour

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Background Research

Craters- When a meteorite hits the ground a chemical reaction between the ground and the meteorite. When a meteorite hits the Earth it creates metamorphosis that is uniquely and distinctly associated with the meteorite impact which can cause such things as diaplectic glass by feldspar, quartz, and grains pressing together with tremendous force and heat.
Meteorites- A meteorite is a meteor that does not burn up in the atmosphere. Meteorites are made of rock or metal. They enter the Earth's atmosphere at speeds of at least 4 miles per second, which makes them glow brightly . Several thousand meteorites enter the Earth's atmosphere every year, but very few of them reach the ground.

References

"Terrestrial Impact Craters." Views of the Solar System. Web. 24 Apr. 2012. <http://www.solarviews.com/eng/tercrate.htm>.
"How Are Meteorites Formed?" The Resource Solutions.com. Web. 26 Apr. 2012. <http://theresourcesolutions.com/topics/the_universe/how_are_meteorites_formed.htm>.

Detailed Procedure

1. Purchased air dry clay, rice, and flour.
2. Obtained a 2 foot ruler.
3. Obtained an ordinary lacrosse ball (Meteorite).
4. Spread Material on a flat surface.
5. Dropped "Meteorite" into clay from measured height of two feet.
6. Recorded depth and width of resulting crater.
7. Wrote recorded data on a data table.
8. Repeated three times for each material used.

Diagram

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Results

All Raw Data

Depth of Craters	Trial 1	Trial 2	Trial 3
Air Dry Clay	0.3	0.4	0.3
Rice	0.8	1	0.9
Flour	1.2	1.4	1.4

Width of Craters	Trial 1	Trial 2	Trial 3
Air Dry Clay	6.4	6.8	6.5
Rice	7.9	8.1	7.7
Flour	8.9	8.7	8.5

Graph

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Data Analysis

When the flour was hit by the meteorite it created the greatest results with a high depth of 1.4 cm. which was greater than the rice (with a high depth of 1 cm.) and air dry clay (with a high depth of 0.4 cm.) Flour also had the greatest width of 8.9 cm. Then rice came in second with 8.1 cm. then air dry clay came in last with 6.8 cm.

Conclusion

Flour created the largest crater while the air dry clay absorbed the impact the best. My hypothesis of air dry clay will produce the best crater was wrong.

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Discussion

In the end my hypothesis was proven incorrect with flour producing the best crater instead of air dry clay. I would measured when I dropped it better to get more accurate measurements and I would run more trials for each material If I were to do this again.

Benefit to Community and/or Science

It can help scientists and astronomers figure out the depth and width of the resulting crater when they calculate the approximated impact point they can alert people in the area to evacuate.

Abstract

The reason I did this experiment was because I've always been into astronomy so I decided on meteorites. So I decided on their impacts in different surfaces. What I did for it was I dropped an ordinary lacross ball from a set height of two feet where I would drop it into a differing material and record the height and width of resulting crater and repeat the test three times for each material. The materials I used were rice, flour, and air dry clay.